My EOY Review of GERN
INTRO Here's my semi-annual exercise to see if I remember why I own the stocks I own, and so I can check back and see if their stories have changed. I post in case it helps others too.
Geron
GERN (market cap is $2.14B was $2.52B)
Geron (GERN) is an advanced biotech company that has recently (finally?) received FDA approval for their first treatment, a telomere-based technology for treating a type of blood cancer. They have other treatments in their pipeline, but my main interest is this first treatment because of the FDA approval. The approval enables GERN to more confidently advance other treatments, ideally in unmet areas with little competition.
My main concern is that I expected the approval to more immediately find use, acceptance, and subsequently revenues. Not yet. Is it just a matter of patience? One possibility is that the company has been in development mode for so long that they are having a slower or more difficult time transitioning to marketing, treatments, - and the revenues they need for sustainability. Another possibility may be a reliance on a buyout. For humanitarian reasons I hope all that is required is patience. For investment reasons I hope they advance the treatment and the company by remaining independent.
My experience with the first occurrence of Dendreon (DNDN, trimbathcreative.net dampens my enthusiasm. They had an FDA-approved cancer vaccine, were actively undermined, the bad guys were found guilty, but the shareholders lost their money, or at least I did. Hopefully, that won't happen this time.
DISCLOSURE LTBH since 1999 and continuing to hold. I bought more after selling my house.
(I've also collected links to the other discussion boards and my other stocks over on my blog. trimbathcreative.net
& from my One Company One Story series on YouTube
youtu.be ) |
